all aware of Barbara’s attitude, at the beginning they did not discuss the matter.

Eugenia, who would have been apt to influence the younger girl, had she spoken to her, was only vaguely conscious of what was taking place. For naturally, Eugenia was absorbed in her duties as the superintendent of the new American hospital and wished to be absorbed in them until she had neither time nor strength for anything else. For if Eugenia were intensely occupied she was not so apt to be haunted by the thought of the possible fate of her husband. What could have become of him? There[97] were many times when Eugenia believed that if she could only hear he were dead, she would be satisfied, even comparatively happy. There were so many other women learning to bear this burden. But the uncertainty was torture.

[97]

Nevertheless, Eugenia would not betray herself by revealing her unhappiness, believing that one of the first duties of war nursing is to put one’s personal sorrows out of one’s mind. Yet now and then a letter arriving from a friend, or from some person in authority who was endeavoring to discover what fate had befallen Captain Castaigne, Eugenia would sometimes be led to hope and then, at other times, to feel an even deeper despair.

So it was small wonder that, so long as Barbara and the other nurses did whatever was needed of them in the hospital and kept well, Eugenia was glad to know they were being helpful and also entertaining the soldiers until the time of their greater service. Certainly she would never have dreamed of feeling concerned over what any one of the original Red Cross girls[98] might do. Eugenia believed she loved and understood them too completely.

[98]

There were other and different reasons why Mildred Thornton would not criticise her sister-in-law. In the first place, Mildred was reserved and not critical and was also occupied with her own experiences. Moreover, the very fact of being a sister-in-law made her too loyal both to Barbara and to Dick to think of resenting Barbara’s present behavior.

Therefore it was left to Nona Davis, as the only one of the four old friends to puzzle over and not altogether to approve of one of their original group. But this may have been partly due to the fact that Nona felt a little on the outside and was frequently lonely for Sonya during the first few weeks of this second coming to France to continue her Red Cross nursing.

Yet, whatever defense one might 

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